Fifth FUT procedure in the books

[7Shel]

For concise background, you can check out my profile for a link to my transplant journey. I’m 6 weeks out from my latest FUT procedure with Dr. Dorin, which was my fifth with him. I’ve consistently had excellent experiences with Dr. Dorin and his staff. He’s honest, personable, and absolutely cares about his patients and providing good results. 

On 6/21/18, he transplanted 1660 grafts, the majority of them to my crown. He also added grafts to my hairline and a few areas behind the hairline that needed reinforcement. After this latest procedure, I’ve received about 8300 grafts total. My hope is that I get nice improvement in the crown and get the last bit of density and softness in my hairline that I wanted. 

Beyond that, I will wait and see what my situation is after 12 months. I’m fully aware that more crown loss will almost certainly occur, but I feel very good about my prospects to counteract that. I’m extremely fortunate to have excellent donor characteristics and I can get at least a few thousand more grafts via FUE, and there’s always beard hair to tap if things get really bad. Honestly, Dr. Dorin didn’t explicitly rule out getting more grafts via strip, but we’ll have to see. If I get very greedy, I’d probably like to save a few hundred grafts for temple points, but that’s my lowest priority.

My hair obviously looks thinner now, as some native and transplanted hair was sacrificed during the procedure, but that seems to already be growing back. I’ll post some photos of that and my crown in the next few days. Otherwise, scar is healing nicely and my recipient area redness is minimal.

For now, I’ve attached some morning of and immediate post op pics (a few may be out of order, but pretty obvious which is which).

 

Fire away with questions or thoughts. 

 

Edited August 3, 2018 by 7Shel

[Melvin- Admin]

Wow 5 procedures that must be a record, do you have any photos of what you looked like before any procedures? 

[7Shel]

2 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Wow 5 procedures that must be a record, do you have any photos of what you looked like before any procedures? 

Hi Melvin,

Yup, attached a few. I was rapidly heading towards a NW5. Dr. Dorin has done an amazing job. 

[Melvin- Admin]

Wow very impressive,  you’ve definitely got a case of hair greed now cause your hair looks fantastic.

[Bill - Seemiller]

7shel,

 welcome to our hair restoration forum community. Thank you also for sharing a detailed account of your experience with Dr. Dorin.  Looks like you were blessed with a significant amount of natural hair so clearly you didn’t need a large number of grafts to get the desired result. I’m sure your hairline will look much more refined when the results grow in. I couldn’t tell from the pictures but are any of the grafts put in there crown area?  

i look forward to following your progress. 

Best wishes,

Bill

[7Shel]

6 hours ago, Bill - Managing Publisher said:

 7shel,

 welcome to our hair restoration forum community. Thank you also for sharing a detailed account of your experience with Dr. Dorin.  Looks like you were blessed with a significant amount of natural hair so clearly you didn’t need a large number of grafts to get the desired result. I’m sure your hairline will look much more refined when the results grow in. I couldn’t tell from the pictures but are any of the grafts put in there crown area?  

i look forward to following your progress. 

Best wishes,

Bill

Hi Bill,

Yes, the seventh photo shows the crown placement. It looks like a few of the pictures are out of order. I was attaching them on my phone and had an issue for some reason. 

I’m going to take a few photos today that show how everything currently looks. Obviously, I still have a lot of hair so I wouldn’t quite call it the ugly ducking stage, but definitely looking forward to the next few months when growth starts. I don’t think anyone would be able to tell that I just had another procedure except for the difference between the front and crown. I had a lot of miniaturized hair in the crown so I’m sure some of that shocked out. I was ultimately okay with that. Dr. Dorin explained the risk of transplanting around that area, but we both decided that the hair there was going to continue to deteriorate and probably be gone anyway. I’m no longer on Fin and have no plans to resume because the side effects became too concerning for me. I am going to rely on my good donor supply and move forward as necessary. As I mentioned, I should at least have another few thousand grafts in the bank via FUE and would absolutely consider using beard hair to fill in part of the crown if need be. 

Edited August 3, 2018 by 7Shel

[hairlossPA]

8300 grafts with that initial picture of your hair loss journey..? seems like sooooo many to still have crown showing. Seems like a solid 3500 could’ve taken care of it in one procedure. Did some not yield as expected? Do you only have 1 linear scar across your head?

[7Shel]

29 minutes ago, hairlossPA said:

8300 grafts with that initial picture of your hair loss journey..? seems like sooooo many to still have crown showing. Seems like a solid 3500 could’ve taken care of it in one procedure. Did some not yield as expected? Do you only have 1 linear scar across your head?

8300 is the new total after this last procedure. When I had my first procedure in 2012, I had been taking Fin for a few years and hair loss had yet to extend to my crown at all. I stopped taking Fin in 2015, shortly after my fourth procedure. The prior four procedures only addressed the frontal and mid scalp. 3500 would have given me okay density, but nowhere near what I wanted. Instead, we chose to build a foundation with the first two procedures and then do some tweaking with the third and fourth. If I had stayed on Fin, my crown may have been fine and I could have been done (minus hairline tweak or temple points). I understood the risk, but couldn’t tolerate Fin anymore. 

So, here we are. This is my first crown work. I know I’ll need more, but I’m committed to getting the best result I can without resorting to medication again. Realistically, I could have avoided the bit of hairline work we did this time in addition to the crown, but it’s been nagging me. To answer your question, I only have one scar and, through my first four procedures, it’s always healed well. I’ve never experienced shock loss. It’s probably slightly wider than the finest line that someone might achieve, but not by much. I also keep my hair long enough to conceal anything. Even so, no one has ever noticed it, including girlfriends. No complaints with the result.

 

Edited August 3, 2018 by 7Shel

[jjsrader]

I like your attitude - long-term approach and overall plan.  Too bad you can't do hard-core systemic meds, 'cause you have good hair as donor.

Good high-quality photos too.  Good growing!

[PeloDinero]

Have your side effects subsided after discontinuing fin?

Edited August 3, 2018 by PeloDinero

[7Shel]

19 minutes ago, PeloDinero said:

Have your side effects subsided after discontinuing fin?

Yeah, I’d say they have. The first few months were rough, but I don’t notice much of anything now. I guess it’s tough to say if there are any subtle residual effects. Overall, I feel lucky to say worrying about it is not on my mind these days. 

[PeloDinero]

1 hour ago, 7Shel said:

Yeah, I’d say they have. The first few months were rough, but I don’t notice much of anything now. I guess it’s tough to say if there are any subtle residual effects. Overall, I feel lucky to say worrying about it is not on my mind these days. 

That’s great to hear. 

[lakes9925]

good hair line work!

[Melvin- Admin]

1 hour ago, 7Shel said:

Yeah, I’d say they have. The first few months were rough, but I don’t notice much of anything now. I guess it’s tough to say if there are any subtle residual effects. Overall, I feel lucky to say worrying about it is not on my mind these days. 

Were one of the unlucky ones : ( I’m glad you’re all better now. To be honest, your hair is only going to look better with age, if your hair stays relatively the same for the next 20 years you’ll be in the 95th percentile for men. 

[Gasthoerer]

4 hours ago, hairlossPA said:

8300 grafts with that initial picture of your hair loss journey..? seems like sooooo many to still have crown showing. Seems like a solid 3500 could’ve taken care of it in one procedure. Did some not yield as expected? Do you only have 1 linear scar across your head?

With this advanced balding and much more after quitting the meds, I do not believe that 3500 FU would even be close to be enough. He looks great now anyway.

[7Shel]

Here are a few photos that I took this morning before heading to the gym. No product in my hair and a bit of bed head, but you can get an idea of how things look (took a few of the scar too). As I mentioned, my hair certainly looks thinner in areas, which I’ve grown accustomed to post-procedure. It’s my version of the ugly duckling phase. Curious to see how much native hair shocks out in the crown. I think it’s growing back, but still too early to tell. 

Very pleased that there’s no shock loss in my donor area. After all five procedures, I’ve yet to experience any. I got a trim about 3 weeks ago, so this is a bit longer than I would usually keep the back, but you can get a sense of the donor characteristics.

Edited August 4, 2018 by 7Shel

[hairlossPA]

22 hours ago, Gasthoerer said:

With this advanced balding and much more after quitting the meds, I do not believe that 3500 FU would even be close to be enough. He looks great now anyway.

ive seen hundreds of cases where ~3500 easily covers the front half of the head. Yes the second half would require more but i’m just saying from his initial preop pic, it looks like that’s just classic frontal recession. Also I understand he wanted more density than 3500. great result either way. that’s all that matters 

[Bill - Seemiller]

Dr. Doran is a true master and has done wonders with your hair already. I suspect that this transplant will really thicken things up, especially in the crown. 

 I look forward to following your progress. 

Bill

[7Shel]

Hi all,

I visited Dr. Dorin last week for my 4 month visit. I’ve attached some photos that were taken at the visit. Overall, starting to see growth at the hairline and behind it and think I’m right on schedule with that. The crown probably looks about the same. I can feel some fine hairs sprouting, but I knew going into this that the crown would obviously take more time before we saw significant growth. I also had some shock loss behind my hairline, but that was expected too. Dr. Dorin said my scar was a tad wider than he’d normally achieve, but I can’t expect a miracle after 5 strips. Honestly, it looks more than fine to me and he did a great job getting as many grafts as he did and still having the scar look decent. As we mutually agreed, he won’t perform another FUT on me. We’ve reached the end of the line with that and I wouldn’t press my luck and risk a wide scar.  Pending my results, any future work will be via FUE. Looking forward to the next few months!

Edited October 29, 2018 by 7Shel

[Triple7]

This is great hairline work. You look terrific.

[yesplease]

Wow, what a journey. Your hair looks fantastic. You’re in your early 30s? 

 

I can see the thinning in your crown, but it appears pretty mild. That said, I couldn’t really appreciate any hairline weaknesses in your preop photos, looked very natural. 

 

In retrospect, do you think you would have initiated this HT journey had you known ahead of time that wouldn’t tolerate the finasteride? 

 

 

[7Shel]

5 hours ago, yesplease said:

Wow, what a journey. Your hair looks fantastic. You’re in your early 30s? 

 

I can see the thinning in your crown, but it appears pretty mild. That said, I couldn’t really appreciate any hairline weaknesses in your preop photos, looked very natural. 

 

In retrospect, do you think you would have initiated this HT journey had you known ahead of time that wouldn’t tolerate the finasteride? 

 

 

Thanks. I just turned 36. I think I would have done the same thing even if I knew ahead of time that I wouldn’t be able to stay on finasteride. I knew going in that I had good donor supply. That made the decision somewhat easier. Having said that, ideally I would have stopped after the third procedure, but I’m very happy with the decision to keep going. It’s the right call for me. 

[7Shel]

Just checking in with an 8 month update. I saw Dr. Dorin last week and have some new photos to share. Still seeing some thickening in the hairline and there's been more growth in the crown. The crown is coming along at a slower pace, but that was to be expected. Biggest takeaway from the visit was that we'll reassess where I'm at in 4-5 months and then probably devise a plan to get started with FUE. We talked about a few areas to address: I assume I'm going to want more crown work, so the majority of FUE grafts would be dedicated to that. However, I also mentioned I'd love to add some grafts to my temple points, which were previously not a focal point during my initial procedures. Now that I've come this far, though, I'd really like to enhance them and frame my face. Lastly, we discussed the possibility of throwing some grafts into my linear scar. That's probably lowest on my priority list, but could be something to consider. Dr. Dorin mentioned that he thinks I have another ~2000 grafts to use via FUE. We'd probably be looking at a few small procedures if I address all three areas. He also mentioned the possibility of using beard hair for the FUT scar. Curious to see how the next few months turn out, but would love to hear any feedback/thoughts.

 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

Your hair looks great,  if you styled your hair in a way that would comb over the crown you'd look 100%

[sharmaarya]

looks great